Chapter 309: House von Zehntner-Siebenbürgen
The train ride to Transylvania from Berlin was a long but pleasant one. Bruno and Heidi’s youngest children had been born only a few years earlier than the outbreak of war. And the last few years had not exactly been without fruit as well.
Bruno and Heidi were now at eight children, and presumably by the time he returned to his home next there would be a ninth. The eldest, of course, was Eva, who was followed by Bruno’s current heir, Erwin, after which was the youngest of the first crop of children, Elsa.
From there were the three boys in the middle, who were named Josef, Heinrich, and Wilhelm. Followed by two more daughters, those two being Anna and Erika. Erika having only been born this last year, was the youngest of Bruno and Heidi’s children.
Considering Bruno had not been home for the most part of the last two years, he had been a largely absent figure of his younger children’s lives. This meant that there was a very obvious rift between them, and the elder children who had for the most part lived with their father in their home for the majority of their lives.
Eva, Erwin, and Elsa were all clinging to their father, fearing that the moment he vanished he would never return, as they were all too aware of the price in German blood that had been waged to avenge their Austrian allies, and the royalty which God had ordained the rightful rulers of the Österreich.
Whereas the younger children were far more aloof, having not truly known their father within their short memories, and thus were more intimidated by his presence. While slightly better than a stranger to them, he was indeed far too absent due to the poor timing of the war, for these kids to feel comfortable in his presence.
Or so was the case for the first few weeks following Bruno’s victorious return from the Balkans. However, after the months he had been home since, and the extensive journey from Berlin to Bran, which was the small Transylvania town where they would be taking up their residence for the duration of their stay in the region. Bruno had become much closer to his youngest children.
Eventually, the family arrived at a historic monument, a castle from a distant era, one that had quite the legacy. For you see, the legendary Bran Castle had been the home of the Tepes Dynasty, meaning it was the residence of the infamous Vlad the Impaler, who had been the inspiration for Dracula.
In other words, this was Dracula’s castle, which Bruno and his family would be staying at, as Transylvania had no actual modern palace for Bruno and his family to reside in during their time in Hungary.
When his family got out of their luggage, they saw the Banners of Austro-Hungary waving on a flagpole, with the colors of Transylvania just below. And watching this blue, red, and yellow wave with the winds of spring, Bruno suddenly came to a realization.